Well, this is a new departure – blogging, that is – although, to be fair, it almost wasn’t a departure at all. For several reasons. We lurched from disaster to disaster… First the brake pads on the car needed replacing as did all four tyres. So, that’s just money (disasters 1 & 2)… On the Friday – the day before taking the ferry – I noticed a crack in the top rear near-side corner of the caravan. Ahhh – Coachman strikes again (with disaster 5)!
So, off to the caravan repair shop to get some proper sticky silicone to hide (and seal) the problem. Out of sight, out of mind! Much delayed by the repairs and a spot of gardening, we were eventually ready to head for Plymouth by 7.30 pm – an hour after planned.
Fortunately, the hole outside our drive that the gas pipeline replacers had dug over the last few days had been filled in enough that we could squeeze the caravan out into the road (nearly a disaster). This operation completed the job of totally blocking Higher Warborough Road to passing traffic.
As Glenda was checking the lights before setting off she noticed another crack on the other top corner!!! A few rude words were muttered and we unlocked the garage and collected the silicone and applicator gun. Repairs will have to be done on the hoof. (Disaster 6)
Did I mention that the week before we left home the upstairs underfloor heating pump had jammed on (disaster 3). This means water is circulating in the system – although not under the floor fortunately. Our erstwhile electrician who has emigrated to Australia put in local fused switches for the systems on both floors. However, sadly, he appears to have forgotten to connect the things into the circuits. The only thing that they appear to do is make a satisfying click when operated! While we are away we have a simple solution to this problem. Switch everything off at the master boiler controller.
Add to that I discovered that the gas fire in the garden room isn’t working. It won’t light (disaster 4). I’m just hoping that when the gas engineer comes to sort out our gas appliances after the enforced gas shut off (as the pipes to our property are replaced with plastic ones) he can fix it!
Anyway, later, as we were sedately hurtling down the A38 towards Plymouth the tyre pressure loss indicator burst into life. It told us to slow carefully and get the puncture safely repaired. Thank you very much for disaster 7. Bran new tyres and a possible puncture within the first 30 miles. Fortunately, after a mild bit of panicking it turned out to be a false alarm. All pressures were ↵good and at the top end of their ranges. I guess the garage didn’t recalibrate the pressures properly after fitting the new tyres. Panic over. We can still go to France. Even though Glenda doesn’t want to.
Now it’s time to see if I can launch this successfully!
Your Blog arrived as expected (by you!). Sounds like a good idea. Please don’t do a Trump.
I hope you aren’t talking about Stormy (weather) here. I can’t afford that sort of deal! For several reasons! And one of them is sleeping peacefully beside me as we speak!
Oh dear poor you two, what a start to the travels! I do hope that things improve markedly from here on. We’ve just got home from six weeks wanderings in our narrow boat – what a summer! Beautifully hot for most of the trip though it did mean that the pennine canals which were our initial target became impenetrable as they ran out of water. Never mind there are always other places to visit – like Coventry! It was nice to keep warm after three months on Oz a little earlier in the year. They too have water problems, especially in NSW which is frighteningly dry with almost no winter rain at all leading to no feed for the animals and a massive fire risk. I think we have it easy over here.
Enjoy France and we’ll keep an eye on your travels. Love from us both, David & Penny
Enjoy Britney we are on the Algarve
Hello both I think I would have stayed at home after the first couple of problems but look what we would have missed!!
Home tomorrow for a rest and perhaps plan a few days holiday,this time minus grandchildren!!
Philip and Helen’s Volvo broke down in Chamonix so they had to abandon it,plus bikes ,roof box etc and fly back from Geneva The car may be finishing its holiday in a couple of weeks to be repaired at local Volvo garage but overall Volvo assist left a great deal to be desired apparently
Hope the weather has improved for you
Take care Freda&John
Well this will be good, make sure we get notifications for each new post so we don’t miss a word. need to improve the pics though…… as a teacher would say ‘can do better’.
Safe travels! x
Hi John and Glenda, what a start to your holiday! Hope it improves immensely from now on. We have a bit of a glitch here before our trip to Perth and Melbourne on the 7th September with Kevin straining his ankle last week and still unable to walk. At least it’s not broken, like mine was before our Kimberly trip. Look forward to the rest of your holiday tales. Cheers, Robyn and Kevin ?
Hi John and Glenda, I’ve tried to leave a message once already, but it didn’t seem to work, so trying again, otherwise I’ll just email (the old fashioned way). Hope your holiday gets better, after the disastrous start, and you can relax and enjoy France and the food and wine. Cheers, Robyn and Kevin
Hi. We got both messages. Thanks. Joh
Enjoy yourselves. Hopefully your troubles are behind you, we thought an blown alternator was bad.
Looking forward to your travel news and pics.
Welcome to word press. I leave it to the kids to post my items for Stevericketts.com.au which means my diary entries are years behind.
Enjoy Brittany and Marie and I look forward to reading your updates.
A+++ for perseverance. Looking forward to keeping up with your travelogue
Enjoy Brittany
Love
Beryl & John